I’ve always felt that flying mounts in MMOs are something of a status symbol. Working your way up to a nice horse or a giant lizard with a saddle is one thing, but getting your hands on a flying horse or a dragon is quite another. There’s nothing quite like soaring over low-level areas to see just how far you’ve come. And there’s something about seeing the meadows and forests you spent hours grinding in from the sky that really gives you a sense of perspective.
My MMO of choice was alwaysGuild Wars 2, and itstill is today, so obviously I’ve spent a good deal of time tracking down the various mounts the game has to offer. From the humble Raptor to the graceful Skimmer, I did my best to round out my collection of fantastic beasts. I still have my eye on a Siege Turtle, as it happens. There was however one mount that eluded me: the Skyscale. I already had a Griffon, which is arguably better in the air, but I’m a sucker for dragons, and there was something about these snub-nosed little lizards that caught my eye. They may not be able to fly long distances the way the Griffon can, but they’re fast, agile, and just adorable.
So I took to grinding. Before you’re able to even begin the questline that unlocks the Skyscale, you must have already completed episode 6 of Living World Season 4 and have access to the Domain of Istan, Sandswept Isles, Domain of Kourna, Jahai Bluffs, Thunderhead Peaks and Dragonfall. This was all before the release of Secrets of The Obscure, of course, but we’ll get to that in a moment. Previously, there was only one way to unlock the Skyscale. Once I had all the preliminaries out of the way, I knew I had to speak to Gorrik, an Asuran entomologist, and complete an associated questline, but going in, that was all I knew. After several hours of collecting scales, staring at eggs, and feeding the newborns at his behest, I thought I had to be getting close.
Little did I know, the grind required to unlock the Skyscale just went on and on. I couldn’t possibly explain it all here, but I will link tothis Reddit post, which should give you some idea of just how much work is required to get your hands on a miniature wyvern of your own. I made it through eventually, but boy was it a struggle at times. Every time I thought I was nearing the end, the game pulled something new out of nowhere and sent me off on what felt like another wild goose chase. Sure, I play for the grind,but it has to be handled correctly. There’s a limit, and this went way past it.
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Even worse, the original Skyscale wasn’t really worth the effort. I tried my best to convince myself that I loved my new buddy, but the spark just wasn’t there. My new friend wasn’t as fast as the Griffon, and the Skyscale just wasn’t doing enough to justify its lack of true flight. It could glide over long distances and launch off walls, which was helpful, but it wasn’t quite enough.
For the longest time, I had a love-hate relationship with my Skyscale. All I could see when I looked at him was all the hard work I had done, only to be rewarded with a sub-par mount. I still loved the way it looked, but that only really made things worse. There’s a happy ending here though. The latest expansion, Secrets of The Obscure has given the Skyscale a long-overdue boost.
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Perhaps most importantly, the interminable grinding required to actually unlock the thing has been scaled back significantly. There are now only a handful of treasure hunts required to unlock a Skyscale, which is averygood thing. The previous method was kind of absurd really. I may not benefit directly from this change, but I’m glad newer players have the option of skipping one of the most arduous grinds in the entire game, which for an MMO is saying something.
What matters more for me is that a number of new masteries for the Skyscale have been added to the game, which make it a much more effective mount. You can now call in your winged friend during a fight to fly you to safety, you can use ley-lines and updrafts to increase your gliding distance, and the Skyscale can now breathe fire, which, let’s be honest, it should have been able to do from the start.
It’s nice to see ArenaNet respond to feedback and actually make the fun parts of the game more accessible, which isn’t always the case as far as MMOs are concerned. I love that my Skyscale is finally living his best life, setting my enemies aflame and soaring through the sky without a care in the world. I’m also glad that other players now have a better chance of experiencing the same thing.
I can’t wait to take my Skyscale out on a new adventure, and the upcoming updates for Secrets of The Obscure are the perfect excuse to take him out for a ride. We’re going to take down the Kryptis menace together, and it’s going to be awesome.
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